The National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) has given up its bid for accreditation as the citizen arm of the Commission on Elections in the May 10 elections, but not before taking potshots at the poll body. Namfrel said its fight is going nowhere, and that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is “not interested” in its help, but it added it will keep an eye on preparations for the polls. “It's obvious that the Comelec is not interested in Namfrel's assistance,” Namfrel head Jose Cuisia Jr. said in an article posted Saturday on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news site. Namfrel, which pioneered the unofficial parallel quick count during elections in the country, had as copetitioner for accreditation the CBCP National Secretariat for Social Action – Justice and Peace (Nassa-JP). As a result of Namfrel's withdrawal, only one other citizen poll watchdog – the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) – will be allowed to receive separate official copies of ballots cast during the May elections. Based on these ballots, the PPCRV will be able to undertake an independent, unofficial quick count, providing a comparison to official results Comelec would releasE in the course of the counting of votes. Namfrel, a Comelec partner since the 1980s, will be unable to enjoy that privilege. Moreover, unlike the PPCRV, Namfrel will not have volunteers observing and monitoring the conduct of elections at the precinct level. With only less than two months before the polls, Namfrel continues to doubt the Comelec's ability to conduct, let alone ensure success of the country's first nationwide automated polls. “We're not optimistic but we hope for the best,” Namfrel spokesman Eric Alvia told GMANews.TV. “There is a growing feeling of mistrust among the public which has fueled a great deal of speculation that the elections will fail, seriously derailing the development of a mature democracy for the Philippines,” Namfrel said in a statement. Namfrel, questioned why only the PPCRV was accredited as a citizen arm. “The exclusion of more experienced and more objective organizations seem to raise questions as to why the Comelec is so exclusive, rather than more inclusive,” it said in the same statement. In an en banc resolution, the Comelec cited the PPCRV's reliability in conducting poll watchdog activities in past elections. The PPCRV was also accredited for the 1992, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004, and 2007 national and local elections. In December, Namfrel asked the Comelec to allow them to conduct or be involved in the manual audit and external parallel count for the May elections. PPCRV objected to Namfrel's petition for accreditation, saying that the poll body had already awarded them the tasks that the quick count expert was asking for.
